FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech baseball team swept Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) rival Cornerstone, 3-2, and 3-1, on Friday afternoon in their spring home opener at Warrior Field.
The first game saw the two teams combined for 18 hits, but only five runs between the two clubs as starters Collin Young and
Nate McBroom stranded 19 runners over 12 innings of work. The Warriors got on the board first in the fourth as
Glen McClain led things off with a four-pitch walk. Following back-to-back singles from
Tighe Koehring and
Taylor Nychyk to load the bases,
Ryan Meisenheimer smacked a 1-2 pitch into right field for a double to score McClain and put Tech up 1-0.
Cornerstone responded right away in the fifth with a one-out homer from Aaron Krupansky and took a 2-1 lead in the sixth off a fielder's choice and a Warrior error, but Tech would find the answer in the bottom half of the frame. With one out in the inning and runners on second and third, pinch-hitter
Dillin Diehm laced run out to left field on a 2-2 count to score
Reese Olden and Meisenheimer and put the Orange and Black up 3-2.
The visitors appeared ready to knot the game back up in the seventh with runners on first and second with one out, but
Branson Dossen snagged a line drive at third and got the 54 double play to end the inning. McBroom gave way to
Jared Harvey after seven strong innings, and the redshirt-senior shut the door on the Golden Eagles with a two-inning save, striking out three batters while allowing just one base runner to preserve the 3-2 win.
Koehring, Meisenheimer and Diehm each recorded a double in the game with Koehring and Meisenheimer collecting a pair of hits. McBroom picked up his third win of the season while allowing two runs, one earned, on nine hits and struck out four.
The second game of the day was a pitchers' duel all around, with just seven hits between the two teams. CU took the first lead of the game in the fifth off a Jon Stewart double to score Greg Zeiger from first, but the Warriors knotted the game up at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning off a
Matt Bandor sacrifice fly to plate
Dominic Giuliani.
The offense's would go quiet over the next few innings until the bottom of the eight as a hit-batsman and five-pitch walk gave the hosts runners at first and second with nobody out. A sacrifice bunt from Meisenheimer moved
Daniel Johnson II and
Jake Ritson up 90 feet, with the former scoring in the next at-bat off a wild pitch while
Rico Caravalho drove in the latter with an ground out to second base to make it a 3-1 game.
Jason Sterrett finished out the complete game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning to complete the sweep and finished with a line of one unearned run on three hits while striking out nine batters.
Tech (13-13, 9-2 WHAC) concludes its weekend series with Cornerstone Saturday as the two teams play a single nine-inning game. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. from Warrior Field.
